Hundreds ’Walk as One’ to Dismantle
Racism -- See Metro page BI
l iger Woods Shatters Record Books
Again — See Sports, Page B3
PRSDRT STD
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PORTLAND OR
PERMITNO. 1610
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(Elie
Volume XXXI
Num ber 15
K n ig W L lb r a 7
£ u g e° e
Com m itted to Cultural Diversity
Established in 1970
www.portlandobserver.com
THE»
REVIEW
U .S . D ip lo m a ts M eet
A g a in w ith C rew
■ HAIKOU, China — Two American diplo
mats met with all24crewmembersofadowned
U.S. spyplane. Meanwhile, China stood firm in
its demand for an apology over the collision o f
a U.S. spy plane and a Chinese fighter jet,
showing no reaction to a statement that the U.S.
side was “sorry” for the loss o f the fighter pilot
B ush S e n d s B u d g e t
D e ta ils to th e H ill
W ASHINGTON — President Bush sent
Congress the full details o f his $1.96 trillion
budget, promising to restrain what he considers
the excessive growth o f government spending
by trimming a multitude o f government pro
grams, from energy conservation to putting
police on the streets.
H a w a ii’s P u b lic
E d u c a tio n S h u ts D ow n
HONOLULU— Nearly 13,OOOpublic school
teachers and3,100 University ofHawaii faculty
members prepared to go on strike aftci last-ditch
negotiations with the state failed to produce
new contracts. The walkouts will shut down
public education in Hawaii, affecting 182328
public schoftl students and 41,933 university
students.
Biological Father of ‘Internet
Twins’ Seeks Custody
NEW Y O RK — Tliebiological fatherofthe
twin girls at the center o f an international cus
tody dispute said that he is ‘ ’in a good position
to take care o f my daughters. ’ ’ A British court
ruled that the girls, bom in America and adopted
by a British couple through an online service,
should be returned to Missouri to have a court
decide who should raise them. Aaron Wecker,
the girls ’ father, toldNBC’s 7ot¿rv show that he
wouldn’tcharacteiizehisestrangedwife’scom-
peting claim to the children, but ‘ ’ I think I make
a better parent."
P hilippines’ E strada Faces
C orruption C harges
"MANILA, P hilippines— H is presiden
tial im m unity stripped, Joseph E strada was
indicted on charges alleging he am assed
$82 m illion from kickbacks and payoffs in
2.5 years in office. A m ong the charges
leveled w ere p lunder — a non-bailable
offense that could lead to E strad a’s arrest.
Plunder, illegally accum ulating m ore than
$ 1 m illion w hile in office, is a capital crim e,
but it is considered doubtful E strada w ould
get the death penalty. T he charges follow
a unanim ous S uprem e C ourt vote, that
reaffirm ed the legitim acy o fh is successor,
G loria M acapagal A rroyo.
Wednesday
April 11,2001
Internet Connection
O n - l in e J o u r n e y B r in g s Y o u n g A f r ic a n to P o r tla n d
T he P ortland O bserver
A grow ing friendship that b lo s
som ed on the Internet across racial,
religious and continental barriers has
brought a student from Tanzania, A f
rica to Portland.
In M arch 2000, D onovan Pacholl o f
Lake O sw ego w as planning a trip to
E urope and A frica. W hile researching
on the Internet, Pacholl was introduced
to C hiss K isanga.
Surprisingly, K isanga had posted
his nam e on a H olland H ostel Internet
w ebsite in the hopes he w ould m eet
people from Holland.
T he tw o m en corresponded several
tim es, each one inquiring about each
o th e r’s country.
" t-L i.
“On the Internet,
there’s no color,
there’s no religion. It
just breaks people
down to their voice.”
— D onovan Pacholl
o f Lake O swego
f
> A - • ..» m J
r
“ It w as so am azin g ... to have that
connection with som eone th a t’s com
pletely different from you,” Pacholl said.
Pacholl finallym et Kisanga in D ares
Salaam , T an zan ia’s capital last June.
H e spent two w eeks in C hekereni, a
village o f m ud hom es a, the base o f Mt.
K ilim anjaro w here K isanga grew up.
T he village is agriculturally-based and
has no running water, no electricity
and no superm arkets.
W hen Pacholl returned hom e in A u Pastor Rozell Gilmore (from left) o f northeast Portland s Redeemer Lutheran Church nurtures an
gust, he decided K isanga should see international friendship with Chiss Kisanga o f Tanzania and Donovan Pacholl o f Lake Oswego.
w hat life is like in the U nited States. So
he threw a party at a frien d ’s house and
m onths.
$2,000 for K isan g a’s airfare to Portland.
charged $10 at the door. Betw een donations
K isanga says there is nothing to compare
“This is like a dream ,” K isanga said
at the party and from relatives, Pacholl raised
his village w ith the United States.
H e has now been in Portland for four
Ramp to Carry Bridge Traffic
Cosco, theworld'slargestmakerofchildren’s
products, will pay arecoidS l.3 million to settle
charges that it failed to report 300 injuries and a
death caused by five recalled products.
Students Score Just Above
Average in Math, Science
W A SH IN G 1 UN — E ighth-graders in
suburban C hicago and C olorado Springs,
C olo., scored am ong the best in the w orld
in a test o f m ath and science know ledge. O n
the w hole, though, students in the U nited
States scored ju st above average, lagging
behind 16 othercountries All 50 states did
not participate, so broad com parisons be
tw een them cannot be made. A lso, the
U nited S tates’ results are only representa
tive o f the participating states and not,
students throughout the country.
W A SH IN G TON — Even as violent crime
rates shrink, new s outlets unfairly focus on
young Latino and black men who com m it
acts o f violence, a media think tank says. The
result o f the skewed coverage is a public that
believes youth crim e is on the rise and sup
ports policies based on that notion, the
Berkeley M edia Studies group asserted.
Media groups said the report revealed of
fenses that w ere mostly unintentional.
“Everything is different," he said.
Kisanga had never seen skyscrapers
or supermarkets. H eneverexperienceda
cold sunny day. When Pacholí took him
downtown, Kisanga was amazed they
could park the car “inside o fa building.”
Kisanga, whose father is a Lutheran
pastor in Tanzania, attends Redeemer
Lutheran Church on Northeast 20th and
Killingsworth.
With the help o f the church and Pas
tor Rozell Gilmore, Kisanga started
classes at Portland Community College
last Monday. He is studying Internet
website design.
“1 chose web design because I saw
the world go on this technology and I
think m y country needs it," Kisanga
said. “I want to be the one who brings it.”
Kisanga plans to open an Internet café
and a com puter school when he returns
to Tanzania. He is very thankful to be
able to study in the United States and is
grateful for the friends he has made here.
Going to college, even at PCC isn’t cheap.
Each credit hour costs $175 for an inter
national student, com pared to $39 per
credit hour for Oregon residents. That
means one-year at PCC will cost him
about $10,000.
It’s a financial obligation that Pastor
Gilmore has stepped in to help.
“I did what I call a faith journey,”
Gilmore said. "W e take one step at a time,
by faith, and things will happen.”
Pastor Gilmore has sent letters to the
surrounding churches to help raise the
$20,000 Kisanga will need for a year o f
expenses, including room and board,
tuition and his ticket home. So far they
have raised $ 17,000 dollars from indi
viduals’ donations.
Kisanga, Pacholí and Gilmore are all
excited about how the Internet is con
necting the world.
“ O n th e I n te r n e t, t h e r e ’s no
c o lo r, th e r e ’s no r e lig io n . It ju s t
b rea k s p e o p le d o w n to th e ir v o ic e ,”
P a c h o lí sa id . “ Y o u d o n ’t h a v e p r e c o n
c e iv e d id e as. It m a k es p e o p le e x tre m e ly
a p p r o a c h a b le .”
Woman Poses
as High School
Student
Story stuns former classmates
and the Vancouver families
who thought they were helping
a troubled street teen who had
been abused
Cosco Hit with Record Fine
Study: Media Coverage of
Youth Crime Unbalanced
of O te 8 o n
was tom down to make room fo r new housing It's due for completion this fall
(P hotoby M ark W ashington TT he R drtland O bserver )
Jackson offers to work for release ofU.S. plane’s crew
(A P )— The Rev. Jesse Jackson has offered
to go toC hina to work for the release o f 24 U.S.
servicem en and women. “ If a delegation ap
pealing to the Chinese directly w ould help,
w e ’d be willing to do that," Jackson told the
Chicago Sun-Times newspaper. “W e’ve done
it before, and each time w e were successful."
Jackson, the leader of the Chicago-based Rain
bow ,PU SH Coalition, made the offer to N a
tional Security Adsiser Condoleezza R icea few
days ago. Jackson said he was not criticizing
President B ush’s efforts, but pointed to inter
national disputes he has successfully m edi
ated, inc luding helping free Americans in Syria,
Iraq and Yugoslavia. "In each instance, w e had
to m ake a moral appeal," Jackson said. “You do
it in a w ay that does honor to our country.
Som ehow , religious people can be a bridge ”
I
(A P) — She earned a D in dram a, but her
acting w as great.
Police say a 31 -year-old w om an posed as
a student at V an co u v er's Evergreen High
School, w here she w as a m em ber o f the Class
o f 2000, played on the tennis team and at
tended the senior prom
Students knew her as B rianna Stewart.
N ow , sh e ’s know n as T reva T hroneberry and
is in the Clark C ounty Jail aw aiting a M ay 23
trial on charges o f first-degree theft, second-
degree theft and perjury.
T hroneberry is accused o f defrauding the
state D epartm ent o f Social and H ealth S ci
ences o f $3,620 that w as paid for her foster
care. She also is accused o f defrauding Clark
College, w hen $ 1,050 in tuition w as w aived
after she claim ed to be a hom eless teen. The
perjury charge alleges she illegally obtained
a state identity card under the nam e B nanna
Stewart
And a C am as m an. convicted o fha ving sex
with a m inor after a 1997 encounter with
“S tew art," m ay get his record cleared. Police
say the w om an w as 28 at the time.
Clark C ounty S u p en o rC o u rt Judge Edwin
Poyfair on M onday called C harles W esley
B lankenship’s situation a m iscarriage o f ju s
tice. Poyfair said w hen h e ’s presented w ith a
S tory to C ontinue on P ace B2